The Fairy Princess really hates to be proven correct – but here we go – Maybe Happy Ending, which won the TONY Award for Best Musical this past year, and for it’s star, Darren Criss, has announced that it is seeking replacements for the Broadway production and robots not being Asian presenting is the hill the Producers are going to die on…
So that, as they say, is that.
(Say what you will about R&H, their shows in the current day cannot be done professionally without #AANHPI performers, and their foundation stands by it.)
Yes, all the things you are feeling are justified.
However, it is not the performers’ fault – and TFP stands by that. They didn’t write this casting notice.
Worth noting that the breakdown for James lists the character’s background as Korean, but the actor playing him does not have to be.
If anyone of the AANHPI diaspora goes in, and is asked about their racial identity- THAT is expressly forbidden for CDs to do by the CSA -Casting Society of America.
If that happens, there is an internal review and members are disciplined if violations occur.
Ahem.
Now, if TFP were to think about it – she would warn folks about getting down in the dumps about this situation – she does love a good think – she would say this is your chance to RISE UP – she would say that ALLLLLL the AEA AANHPI performers who are right for this show should go to the EPA – which is
Weds October 15th from 10AM- 6PM
Pearl Studios – 500 Eighth Ave
Holding is in 404, and the audition room is 402
In the audition room will be Craig Burns and Jimmy Larkin.
Get there early and sign up – etc. etc. etc….TFP believes in you, you can do it.
Go hold your musical theater ground…
We, of the AANHPI community who are not ‘right’ for this show, salute you….
Go show them what you are made of in the Year of the Snake….you got this!
TFP knows you will SLAY ALL DAY!!!!
Ok, ok, ok here is the point – It’s only a defeat if you don’t show up and show out.
The Fairy Princess knows the Broadway AANHPI Community is hurting about the decision to cast a non-Asian performer into a role that had been originated on Broadway by an Asian descended performer.
No matter how much they ‘whitesplain’ this decision – and here are some examples:
The character is a robot. Robots are ordered, anyone can order any kind of robot they want.
In previous workshops the casting was all over the place and they tried many different scenarios for who was to be the robot
Asians are gatekeeping
TFP is not going to dwell on those examples, nor address them because…they are toxic.
Producers can choose to say what they want, and they can even order the cast to go along with this but here is what is being set up by a show that won, in part, for it’s diversity.
TFP has spent the last 14 years writing about diversity for AANHPIs and to see this happen makes her want to…
However TFP thought she would point out that TONY NOMINEE CONRAD RICAMORA of STAGE, TELEVISION, and FILM has decided he is investing in education.
Specifically he is funding a scholarship for AANHPI MALES pursuing a BFA or MFA in Theater – sorry ladies, but they have not made Claire white, yet – called ‘THE RIGHT TO BE THERE: A scholarship for Asian American Male Actors”
He is beginning the fund with $5K of his own money, and then will match other donations up to the first $10,000. Even if you do not believe in you, AANHPIs, even if your Family, and the Industry has quite clearly decided that the world does not need you – CONRAD RICAMORA thinks it does.
TFP does as well.
See who else ‘liked’ his post – go take a look, THE QUEEN.
Just sayin’
Here is why TFP cares so much – she has a son.
He deserves to see himself represented. He deserves to sit at a show and see a variation of himself as a dynamic lead. TFP‘s son is of mixed Korean descent, (although he is looking like he could play DDK’s son in that photo) and he was absolutely looking forward to seeing MAYBE HAPPY ENDING – and when he heard the new casting announced on Sirius Broadway XM, he yelled, “Wait – isn’t that part Asian?“
We will not be going to see MHE until there is an AANHPI male in the role. We are choosing to vote with our ticket sales. After all, Mommy saw it that way, and she wishes her son to see it ‘that way’. The whole point of bringing her kid to theater is for him to have an authentic sense of self.
By the way – for those who have stated that this casting ‘is only 9 weeks’ or who have, because of employment issues, needed to react positively to this news on social media….ok.
That’s your view, that we are all ‘post-racial’.
If the show was really post-racial, then it would have never been set in South Korea. An actual place.
If the show was really post-racial then there would be no need to use Asian names or places.
If the show was really post-racial then Jeju Island and the Love Hotel and all the dialogue – “He looks like James, oh he looks like James, he looks like James too” – would not take a seemingly racial turn if anyone of any background spoke it.
It’s funny because Oliver is AANHPI. That is the reason that joke is charming, if he is not AANHPI it becomes…troublesome.
We do not live in a post-racial world.
TFP does not carry a color copy of her passport and have her son do the same because the world in which we now live is post racial. She did not have to get Global Entry and carry it everywhere she goes to further prove she is a US citizen, because the world, the New York, the United States she lives in is a post racial beacon of love and kindness.
We have an invasive cancer in our country right now, and this casting is the first small freckle of melanoma that we are seeing in a while – mostly, theater has been ‘ok’ for a bit – people seemed to be getting it, that ‘representation matters’, and while not everyone was on board with that – most people were, and it was so nice. It was a nice feeling.
AANHPI Theater no longer has that feeling.
It’s so bad, Playwright, Lauren Yee had to arrange for a Community night!
Thank you Lauren and Signature Theater for hosting.
Pretty soon, the role of Claire will also be played by a Non Asian.
Of course it will.
It will start with Broadway, and then as it goes down the chain and is licensed out, Claire will be blonde. That’s why her name is Claire.
The audience is being prepped to expect this because even though the Producers acknowledge the beauty and strength and appeal of having an AANHPI Cast, and legitimately used DEI talking points in their TONY Award campaign, it seemed there was always an intention to not use an AANHPI casting
Even after a tremendous development process that included workshops and productions outside of the USA the writers decided that the best way to tell the story was with Claire and Oliver being ‘AANHPI coded”
Which is TFP’s point – because it does not make sense that people from a homogenous culture who are looking to put robots in place of family members to care for them would choose to pick robots that looked like an entirely different group – the producers are still going to do it.
Because…
Will it serve the story?
The only way we will know is ticket sales. The audience will buy in or it will not.
However do not lose hope – because even as much as the world has the new embattled Superman, full of flaws and choosing honor – AANHPI America has Conrad Ricamora.
Right now, Conrad Ricamora is ‘our’ Superman. Another Mixed Race Asian Actor who is succeeding, and leaving the door open for those coming behind him.
The Fairy Princess got up this morning to find that the Producers of Maybe Happy Ending, the TONY Award winning production of MAYBE HAPPY ENDING, which is set in Seoul, Korea – intends to replace Darren Criss, who is of Asian descent, with Andrew Barth Feldman – who is an Evan from Dear Evan Hansen, and in, in real life, the boyfriend of Helen J. Shen, who stars in this show.
(They made that part of the marketing, which is the only reason TFP mentions it)
Was Zach Piser (star of KPOP the musical, and a Broadway Evan Hansen, & recently closed on Bway, REDWOOD) not available?
It is giving – for those of you who know TFP is Australian, real throwback vibes of the Sydney Opera House production of The King & I, starring Lisa McCune and HER then boyfriend, Teddy Tahu Rhodes, as The King of Siam. Teddy was not Asian. Teddy is still not Asian. He teaches now in Adelaide.
It was whitewashing then, and it is whitewashing now.
Look, there are some kickass people in Maybe Happy Ending, and Helen J. Shen is one of them – so this is not to come down on ANY of the Actors in the show.
Actors go where they are hired, and right now, the Producers have made this decision to hire a non Asian-descended actor to replace an Asian descended actor – when there is LEGIT AANHPH TALENT ALL OVER BROADWAY!
Has folks feeling all…
However the tone deafness of this casting is particularly painful because:
The show has been touted for it’s casting
This upcoming Broadway season does not, as of yet – seem to have ANY AANHPI leads other than Keanu Reeves, and that is only if you can afford the $150-$950 tickets now available for WAITING FOR GODOT – so frankly, Maybe Happy Ending is ‘it’ for representation right now
AANHPIs just had a remarkable winning TONY season, and now, poof – it goes away just like that
Maybe Happy Ending does not need ‘stars’ – it doesn’t. Whoever plays Oliver becomes, de facto, a Broadway star.
Again, was Zach Piser busy? Cuz…
Ahem.
(No, Zach Piser has no idea TFP is throwing his hat into the ring for this show, it is without his consent, and one should acknowledge that – he is a suggestion based on Mr. Criss and who could replace him, and fulfill all the requirements – particularly having lead a Broadway cast before and having a fan base.)
TFP thinks replacing Darren Criss, who is a mixed Asian descended Actor with someone likeZach Piser, ALSO a mixed Asian descended Actor who has been on Broadway and headlined shows – truth be told the VERY SAME show that Mr. Feldman headlined, would have been a…stronger choice.
TFP was not going to randomly throw out names, however…perhaps she should..now these names are not specifically Korean – because we do not segregate on Broadway and TFP is against any kind of ‘blood quantum’ aspect of an AANHPI Actor excluding themselves from a role based on where one’s grandparents come from.
However she will throw out names – all have been in Broadway shows, all have had great reviews and impact and are very talented – and this is a few, not ALL –
However – and you can look them up:
Michael K. Lee,Kelvin Moon Loh, Marc delaCruz, Raymond J. Lee, Telly Leung, Kevin Woo, Eddy Lee, Conrad Ricamora, Timothy H. Lee, Kennedy Kanagawa, Abraham Lim, Joshua Lee, James Kho, Jinwoo Jung, John Yi etc, etc, etc…
They all should have been considered, because the show really does not make sense with a non AANHPI Helper Bot.
It just does not make sense.
The show takes place in a semi-distant future in Seoul.
Seoul is in South Korea.
Do we really need to go to one of TFP‘s parlor tricks and pull out a map?
FFS
See, that’s Korea – and it is located in the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea – right below it is Japan. In between Japan and South Korea, specifically Seoul is Jeju Island – which plays a major part in the storyline. The Helper Bots drive a car from Seoul to the ferry at Jeju to see the fireflies.
However as performed, this show has always had AANHPI people in the lead roles of Oliver and Claire.
Despite where it is set, there IS a ‘white guy”.
Yes there is one role, Gil Brently, played by Dez Duron who is an amalgam of a white jazz pop singers like Frank Sinatra, like Dean Martin, like Michael Bublè – that is where we see ‘white representation’. In a show set in South Korea. ENTIRELY set in South Korea.
Otherwise the cast is entirely AANHPI – and it has been that way since the show opened and won TONY Awards, including Best Musical, Best Direction, Best Book, Best Score – yadda yadda, Congratulations on all of that…
TFP is a HUGE FAN of all the cast of MAYBE HAPPY ENDING.
She will share a photo now to acknowledge the HUGE PERSONAL RISK she is taking in writing about this at all, because this is NOT an attack on any of the actors coming in to the show, or currently in the show.
It is not right to ignore it either – and kudos to the Producers for shooting TFP’s BP right into the stratosphere with this announcement.
TFP thinks what happened is an ‘accident’ of proximity – there is a Broadway actor, he is around all the time, there is a role the Producers need to fill for 9 weeks – 2 months and a week, and they figure, “Why not?” – after all vocally it is a match and this is the point that TFP thinks it hung on:
Helper Bots are not an ‘actual thing’, they are a made up thing, and Helper Bots are something people in this musical ‘order for purchase’, so yes, ostensibly these South Korean owners – these South Korean owners of the Helper Bots ‘could’ order a non-Korean appearing robot.
To serve all needs in a very Korean household.
Because there is nothing Koreans from Korea like more than diaspora in their homes….
Helper Bots are clearly a South Korean ‘thing’ because the owners that they show of these robots are of South Korean Descent. There has been a climate issue or climate crisis, and that is affecting how people are able to live without assistance, it could also be post the 4B movement in Korea which results population decline. The writers do not ‘spell it out’, but clearly, there is an issue there.
That is their background, and here are who plays the ‘owners’ of these Helper Bots – Arden Cho, who is killing it now as the voice of Rumi in KPOP Demon Hunters on Netflix, is Helper Bot Claire’s owner.
Marcus Choi is Helper Bot Oliver’s owner.
So while TFP can almost ‘hear’ what the justification is for this casting, she thinks that it does not fulfill the the classic way in which actors/directors break down a piece – which is:
WHO – who is this character including physical description, likes, dislikes, cultural background
WHAT – what is the circumstance in which this character is appearing
WHEN – when in the time of the show, when in the time of the writer’s career, and when specifically in the character’s life is this happening
WHERE – physical location generally and then, specifically, and then nuances – in his apartment, in the kitchen, at noon…etc
WHY – why today? Why this moment? Why is whatever happening, why is it happening now?
HOW– How did they get to this point, in the show, in the moment
Now, there have been quotes from the creative team, so there is nothing to be done, except reiterate that this casting does not make sense to TFP, but she can only assume they wanted to use the real life element to propel ticket sales, which, hey – it’s not show friendship, it is show business.
Also, folks may be angry with one of the creators signing off on this- Hue Park, but TFP wants to remind everyone that Creatives who come from a mostly homogeneous country do not travel outside their country with the intent of ‘representing’ for, in this case, AANHPIs.
We have seen this again and again from Filmmakers and Writers of the Asian diaspora- so this should not be a surprise- just an oddly familiar disappointment.
‘We’ cannot honestly be that angry with Mr. Park because he is not going to ‘get ‘ it- and, one supposes we should not expect him to- although he did study at NYU and the show literally campaigned on diversity.
In which case, it was never about representation- it was always about a check.
She still thinks it is a mistake.
It ends Michael Arden’s record of being the one director who felt like a safe space to People of Color – and this may not even be his choice. However by pulling a quote from him and the composing team and putting it in the press release, it is giving them no choice but to go stand behind it. The check has to clear.
TFP does not think this is a choice by Casting Director Bernie Telsey or his team, they have long been a champion of diversity on Broadway and beyond. In some respects Broadway only started to change when Bernie Telsey came on the scene, and TFP does not say that lightly.
The casting of RENT changed things. It changed things for her personally and for her friends, she saw it – so no, she does not hold casting responsible. They were instructed to bring the actor in for a music run through and then send over a contract.
This is quite clearly a Producer choice.
However TFP will add- if the hook was AANHPI Casting, but the intention was not to keep it once the awards were awarded- DO NOT SET THE SHOW IN SOUTH KOREA, A REAL and ACTUAL PLACE!
If a non AANHPI Cast was going to come up- then do not have them travel from Seoul to Jejun Island, make up somewhere and have them travel from A to B. Do not name anything for Korean culture- because it MAKES NO SENSE!
Key producers for Maybe Happy Ending include Jeffrey Richards, HunterArnold, and Darren Criss. Other producers include Rebecca Gold, Spencer Ross, Adam Zotovich, Kayla Greenspan, M/B/P Productions, Fahs Productions, Ken Greiner, Ruth Hendel, Willette and Manny Klausner, Cody Lassen, Mix and Match Productions, The Nederlander Organization, and Jacob Stuckelman & John Albert Harris.
Lotta names there, we’ll have to remember them….particularly Hunter Arnold…
TFP ventures a guess that for the next few months, the audience for this show will look different. It robs the soul from the production set in Seoul, and that is a shame.
None of the cast has anything to do with it, so please do not harass anyone. We only ‘vote’ on Broadway by purchasing a ticket, so that is all you can do – vote with your ticket choices.
TICKET CHOICES ONLY – do NOT enact hideous internet trolling on any of the Actors and the Creative Team of this show please – there HAS to be a standard here, there HAS to be. Theater MUST hold itself to a higher standard than The House and Congress and certainly, The White House.
You can be sad about it – TFP is sad about it – but making the lives of people who live to entertain you miserable, is NOT IT – get it?
IF you DO want to see a show, starring an AANHPI – you can join TFP this Sunday at The Cutting Room and see ALEC MAPA as he rolls out his next comedy special at 7PM
44 East 32nd Street, NYC, NY 10016 (2120 691-1900
All right then, another day, another time to be AANHPI and be…wistful.
Rather a slap coming right off a very exciting Awards season, but hey – hopefully they will feel the difference and make amends.
People can only learn at the rate they learn, and that is it.
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